As a child, she may have attended a school that was based on the [...]]]>

Did your Grandma attend conferences and events? Perhaps she attended local faith-based or women’s meetings.  Maybe she went to canning or quilting gatherings or she attended meetings about state fair competitions. Or maybe she started the local neighborhood crime watch.

As a child, she may have attended a school that was based on the rhythms of the season for an agrarian society. Students got summers and early fall off to help with the planting and harvest seasons. During World War II the education system changed with a top-down controlled hierarchy t to prepare students to enter factories and work in assembly lines. Students were not to question teachers, rather do as told and follow instructions.

The world has changed from the agriculture society to the industrial revolution to knowledge and information based society. Today’s education structures often don’t serve today’s society. And these outdated education models also don’t serve today’s conferences and events.

So what about conferences and events? Where did the typical education session model begin? Most conferences offer the traditional didactic lecture based on the ancient 1800s university teaching model. Anyone who attended school in the 1800s could walk into most conference education sessions and feel right at home. Not much has changed except central air, carpeted venues and AV.

Today’s traditional conference format has some unspoken expectations for both presenters and attendees.

Traditional Conference Education Format 1.0

• The presentation is about and for the speaker, not the attendee.
• As the primary focal point of the education session, speakers are the sage on stage and should “stand and deliver.”
• The conference organizers know what’s best for attendees.
• All attendees should embrace all conference education programming willingly and learn from the experts.
• Attendees are to enter education sessions, sit down, be quiet and passively listen to what is being presented.
• Attendees are to sit facing forward with the eyes on the presenter at all times. (Actually, attendees are looking at the back of heads of those sitting in front of them.)
• Attendees don’t talk unless spoken to by the presenter.
• Attendees’ questions are held until the end of the presentation, if there is time.
• Knowledge is power. The more you know, the more powerful you are and the more you are seen as an expert.

This implied unspoken conference agreement has served many conference organizers for years.

Today’s Conference Education Format 2.0

Today’s audiences have become more sophisticated and many no longer tolerate the old-guard Conference 1.0 format. The Internet has changed everything. Attendees come to the conference knowing more and expect to be engaged in new ways. They are no longer willing to sit quietly for several hours a day and passively accept anything that is said to them

• The presentations are for the attendees, not the speaker.
• The attendees’ learning is the primary focus of the education session. Speakers are to be the guide on the side, not stand and deliver like the sage on the stage.
• Conference attendees know what’s best for their learning. They are problem-centric and arrive with expectations to find solutions to their specific problems.
• Attendees want to sit and be able to look at each other in the eyes as the converse with each other.
• Attendees want to talk with each other about the conference’s content during the presentation.
• Attendees will fact check everything the presenter says, usually while the presenter is stating it, with their mobile devices.
•  Attendees are constantly texting their friends and colleagues about the presentation.
• Attendees want their questions answered as they arise, not at the end of the presentation.
• Sharing knowledge is power. The collective credibility of the group is more than the speaker.
• Attendees embrace subject matter experienced, not subject matter experts.

Here is a Conference 2.0 Attendee’s Learning Process Manifesto

1. Before we can understand a concept, we have to remember it.
2. Before we can apply a concept, we have to understand it.
3. Before we can analyze a concept, we have to apply it.
4. Before we can evaluate its impact, we have to analyze it.
5. Before we create something new with this concept, we have to remember, understand, apply, analyze and evaluate it.

The challenge facing conference organizers today is providing education experiences designed to engage the mind, help the brain retain and understand concepts, and allow attendees the chance to deconstruct concepts with other attendees.

How does the new Conference 2.0 model impact meeting professionals planning and organization? What barriers exist to keep the old passive model from changing to one of more attendee engagement?

There are many reasons for lack of free expression and less than creative answers to perplexing challenges. [...]]]>

Have you discovered that when you ask the hard questions that answers are sometime slow in appearing?  Have you tried asking a group for input on an idea and found them reluctant to respond with free expression?

There are many reasons for lack of free expression and less than creative answers to perplexing challenges. There are several effective ways to find great input and Open Space Technology is one way. Here is a short description of how Open Space works and how to use it.

Harrison Owen created open space in its current form, in the 1980s. He suggested a format for addressing issues that brings groups together and draws on the knowledge and intelligence of everyone present. By utilizing this method a great deal can be accomplished and everyone involved has ownership of an end result. There is one law and four principles to Open Space. When organizing an Open Space session these must be abundantly clear to all participants.

The Law of Two Feet

This means you take responsibility for what you care about — standing up for that and using your own two feet to move to whatever place you can best contribute and/or learn. In other words you take full responsibility for your satisfaction with the process. Too many people stay in sessions at conventional conferences and then complain that it was not a valuable experience. The Law of Two feet gives you permission to walk away if the session is not useful or you don’t feel like you can add value.

Four Principles

Whoever comes are the right people. It doesn’t matter if there are two people or 200. They are the ones who can add the most to the conversation and are capable of determining action and moving forward.

Whatever happens is the only thing that could’ve. Everyone comes to any session with his or her own experiences and history. This principle acknowledges that those present are ready to address an issue now. They are not looking backward but rather looking forward and contributing to solutions.

When it starts is the right time. Our task is to make our best contribution when creativeness is at its peak.  This acknowledges that creativity is a flow and it is good to enter that flow when it is moving.

When it’s over it’s over. Creativity has a rhythm and so do groups. This acknowledges that a session should not be run by a clock but by the passionate flow on conversation. When that wanes it is time to stop.

Basic Open Space Set Up

1. Decide on a focusing statement. This should be framed in a positive fashion.
2. Invite stakeholders to participate. Determine time and place and include focus in the invitation.
3. Create the circle. Use concentric circles for larger groups. Designate a space for the AGENDA Wall and for computers for notes and updates. Include paper (8.5×14) and colored pens for posting specific topics around the theme.
4. The facilitator explains the theme and the process to organize and record discussions. The Law of Two Feet and the Principles are explained. Participants are asked t think for a few minutes on what has meaning for them around the theme.
5. Open the Marketplace: Participants are invited to step into the middle of the circle and write a topic, their name and time and place for the meeting. It is then posted on the AGENDA Wall. There is one sheet per topic and as many topics as anyone wants to propose. The proposer becomes the convener and is responsible for facilitating and recording their session to be included on the News Wall.
6. When all the offering are concluded each participant signs up for the session(s) they are interested in and take responsibility for their own schedule using the Law of Two Feet.
7. People participate in the discussions. Reporters enter reports in computers and reports are posted on the News Wall.
8. Everyone reconvenes before closing to share highlights, insights, and key learnings in a dialogue format. There is no discussion at this time.
9. All the reports are sent to participants.

Acknowledgement to Anne Stadler and her article:  DOING AN OPEN SPACE: A TWO-PAGE PRIMER

I invite you to learn more about Open Space meetings first-hand during my Tuesday Exchange Cafe.

So here I sit, racking my brain on how we raise the bar for 2010 and all I wonder is “How do our clients make this happen year after year!?!”

Thus I [...]]]>

2009 e4 hit the mark.  Content was timely. Speakers were impactful. And attendance? Record breaking.  Hmmm, how do we surpass the expectations in 2010?!?!?

So here I sit, racking my brain on how we raise the bar for 2010 and all I wonder is “How do our clients make this happen year after year!?!”

Thus I am reading anything and everything that comes to me an in any and every form.   Texting. Blogging. YouTube. Email. Even the infamous Snail Mail.  What is the new? Or is it all the same ol’, same ol’?

Finally I decide…my time like our clients, is so limited . . . what would I want to learn or what would I want to do??  So how do we dare ourselves to get so far out of our box to think, to do and act differently???   And then I remember that one of my favorite ways to open my mind is to say, “If I had to build it today, how would I do it?  What would it look like???”

Words start popping into my head: White Space, Social Media, Networking, ROI, Value Proposition, Exchange Cafés, etc….I feel the dare begins to COME ALIVE and I want to walk so far out on the limb and ask…..

• Do we need to have the agenda or meeting flow be the same?
• Do we really need an opening general session speaker?
• Could we start a day with activities, without anyone hearing a speaker?
• Is there an idea that a client has that they have wanted to try?

What content are you considering this year? How daring are you?

Join us.  Share with us at e4.

It’s obvious that improving session [...]]]>

At last year’s e4 Conference, we learned the fundamentals of co-creation and its application to events. That’s when the light bulb went off. The creative spark was brighter and clearer than ever before. It was then that I decided to implement co-creation as a vehicle to improve session quality.

It’s obvious that improving session quality is instrumental in driving success and growth. But in 2009, it was more basic than that. In effect, delivering value through richer education would not only sustain our survival but also fuel long-term growth and success. Along the way, we learned it gave us a competitive edge. With limited travel/education budgets, attendees were more prudent and judicious in their decision-making. This propelled a shift in our messaging and focus. The bottom-line, we wanted to win their loyalty, trust and investment.

So…with 500 breakouts; 70 Computer Labs; 150-unique speakers and 2500+ attendees, could the “Co-Creation Concept” really work? Or, like past endeavors, would I simply be herding cats?

The truth will be revealed at the “Co-Creation” Exchange Cafe. Can Co-Creation work for you? Don’t miss this café to learn all about it plus more.